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Verizon Wireless Network Team Amps Up for Super Bowl XLVIII

When the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos take the field for Super Bowl XLVIII, another team will also be at the game – the Verizon Team. Verizon Wireless network engineers will be among more than 82,000 cheering football fans at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. However, these employees won’t be in the stands to root on the teams. They’ll be roaming the stadium – monitoring network performance on behalf of customers attending the game.

Planning for this year’s Big Game, the first to be held outdoors in a cold weather climate, began well over 18 months ago. Verizon Wireless’s network team in New York took advantage of the experience of their colleagues in New Orleans (home of last year’s Super Bowl) regarding their pre-game preparations and post-game learnings and carried that knowledge forward. Critically helpful when you consider that MetLife Stadium holds 10,000 more football fans than New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

During football’s 2013/14 regular season, the company took advantage of every New York Jets and New York Giants home game to measure customer demand and network performance and has used that data to continue to optimize the network onsite.

Yet the Super Bowl is much more than one game, on one night – it’s actually a two-week celebration with hosted events across a variety of venues. This year, Verizon Wireless is supporting more than 30 “Super Bowl Week” events across the region with additional network resources, including activities in Bryant Park, the Prudential Center, Super Bowl Boulevard (which runs through New York City’s already-busy Times Square) and the American Museum of Natural History, among others.

These enhancements are all part of more than $400 million in network investments made across the New York Metro region in 2013.

And when the game is over, there won’t be time to rest. Verizon Wireless network engineers have already begun working on network enhancement plans in Glendale, Ariz. – home of Super Bowl XLIX in 2015.

(1) Verizon Wireless has been preparing for Super Bowl XLVIII for more than 18 months, making Network enhancements throughout the stadium, such as adding antennas in tall structures (pylons) surrounding the stadium gates.